Gunner Maldonado is a safety who has not played this season; the last season with a stat line was 2025, at Kansas State.
Maldonado moves between deep coverage and the slot. Played for four head coaches at three programs in six seasons: Pat Fitzgerald, Jedd Fisch, Brent Brennan and Chris Klieman. A game that shows it: 7 tackles and 1 tackle for loss against Oklahoma State — Week 12, 2025.
Play style
Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
39 tackles. 2 passes defended. 2 interceptions. 1 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Kansas State | 39 | 29 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 2 | 2 |
| 2024 | Arizona | 10 | 7 | 1.0 | 0.0 | -- | 1 |
| 2023 | Arizona | 79 | 56 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 2 |
| 2022 | Arizona | 47 | 26 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 1 | -- |
| 2021 | Arizona | 35 | 23 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 3 | 1 |
| 2020 | Northwestern | 1 | -- | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- |
| Career | 211 | 141 | 5.0 | 0.0 | 7 | 6 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 12 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 21-24vs No. 22 Iowa State | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 1 | W 38-35vs North Dakota | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | L 21-24vs Army | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | L 17-23@ Arizona | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | W 34-20vs UCF | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Wk 6 | L 34-35@ Baylor | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | W 41-28vs TCU | 4 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | W 42-17@ Kansas | 5 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | L 20-43vs No. 13 Texas Tech | 4 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | W 14-6@ Oklahoma State | 7 | 5 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 7 tackles |
| Wk 13 | L 47-51@ No. 13 Utah | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | W 24-14vs Colorado | 6 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 39 | 29 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 2 | 2 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
PD rate
5%2 pass breakupsInterceptions
2interceptionsTackle volume
39tackles this seasonTFL rate
3%1 TFL39 tackles · 1 for loss · 2 pass breakups · 2 interceptions.
Splits · Per-game
2025 season · 12 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 3.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| Road5g | 3.6 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 2.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| Weeks 8+5g | 4.6 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Chris Klieman
Pass share
46.4%
342 pass / 395 run
Plays / game
61.4
12 games
Team sack rate
3.6%
361 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning, slow tempo.
Player standing · 2025
Fewer tackles a game than most FBS defensive backs who play every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Three-star recruit. Now #275 at the position.
2026 outlook
Outside shot for All-Big 12
Based on 2025: #21 of 40 Big 12 Ss
A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 15% of returning players who ranked #21 or lower at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 13–17%).
Four or fewer games in the first season, then ten or more.
The role got bigger.
Coaching lineage · 2020–2025
4 coachesPlayed for 4 head coaches at 3 schools: Pat Fitzgerald, Jedd Fisch, Brent Brennan and Chris Klieman.
